The Christie Hospital has unveiled plans for a new ‘emotional and practical support’ centre for people with cancer designed by top architect Lord Norman Foster.

Patients will be offered everything from alternative therapies to benefits advice to gardening and yoga at the ‘calm and uplifting’ centre - which aims to complement the world-leading medical treatment offered by doctors at the Withington-based hospital.

Lord Foster - whose works include world-renowned buildings including The Gherkin in London - drew up plans for the light-and-airy single-storey timber building, set amid a picturesque garden, for the charity Maggie’s who will run it.

Christie bosses say that the centre will boost their ability to support cancer patients and their families - through Maggie’s ‘evidence-based’ programme of ‘practical, emotional and social support’.

An application for planning permission to the build the centre - which will feature exposed beams and a glass-house leading to the garden - has been submitted to Manchester council ready for its planned opening in 2016.

Laura Lee, chief executive of Maggie’s said, “We are delighted that Lord Foster is designing the Maggie’s Centre at the Christie. Great architecture is vital to the care Maggie’s offers, creating environments that are both calm and uplifting. The application for planning permission brings us one step closer to the centre becoming a reality and being able to offer the highest quality cancer support to the people of the north west.”

Dr Stephanie Jenkins from the Christie called the centre ‘an exciting step forward’ that would ‘make a huge difference to our patients and their families’.

Reddish-born Lord Foster, who designed the centre through his Foster and Partners architecture practice, said: “We are delighted to be designing the new centre – this project has a particular personal significance, as I was born in the city and have first-hand experience of the distress of a cancer diagnosis.

“I believe in the power of architecture to lift the spirits and help in the process of therapy.

“Within the centre, there is a variety of spaces – visitors can gather around a big kitchen table, find a peaceful place to think or they can work with their hands in the greenhouse.”